金石堂本書編譯了當代關於社會科學措辭（rhetoric）的最重要的九篇論述，指出尋繹的措辭學（rhetorie of inquiry）建基於兩個論斷：第一，學術的論辯較我們所理解的更加統一，無論各領域的學家所研究的是甚麼，所賴的是同樣的措辭手法。第二，尋繹措辭學堅持，學術論辯比我們所理解的更五花八門。
尋繹措辭學要問的是：為甚麼有些措辭方式會被學術規範制度認可，有些則被排斥？被認可的措辭方式又如何影響各個研究領域？內容為：
Rhetoric of Inquiry
Nelson, John S., Allan Mcgill and Donald N. McCloskey
Rhetoric of Social Psychology by Billig, Michael
Rhetoric and Mathematics by Davis, Philip J.
Discourse and Rhetoric:
The Case of the New Zealand Native Land Company
Hooper, Keith and Michael Pratt
The Rhetoric of Economic Expertise by McCloskey, Donald
The Rhetoric of McCloskey\’s Rhetoric of Economics
Stettler, Michael
The Stories of Economics and the Power of the Storyteller
Strassmann, Dianna
Decanonizing Discourses: Textual Analysis and the History of Economic Thought , by Brown, Vivienne
The Rhetoric of Inquiry and the Professional Scholar
Hariman, Robert
